Convertible furniture



April 2 1,v 1970 w. T. ELLIS, JR, ET

CONVERTIBLE FURNITURE Filed March 22, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TORS.

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April 21, 1970 w. T. ELLIS, JR., ET AL 3,506,984

CONVERTIBLE FURNITURE Filed March 22, 1968 s Sheets-Sheet s I I 3 4/ w J-l 1 IN VEN TORS.

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M WJ ZA United States Patent 3,506,984 CONVERTIBLE FURNITURE Weldon T.Ellis, Jr., 3813 Hillsboro Road, and Donald Cowan, 1215 Chickering Road,both of Nashville, Tenn. 37215 Filed Mar. 22, 1968, Ser. No. 715,427Int. Cl. A47c 17/13 U.S. Cl. 29 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Thepresent furniture is primarily a convertible chairbed that can be usedas either a chair or bed and two, three or more of said chair-beds canbe assembled to provide love seat-beds or sofa-beds as desired. Eachsuch chair-bed has three basic units, namely an outer chair frame, aninner folding frame serving as either the seat of the chair or springsof the bed and three cushions to be used as the seat and back of thechair or mattress of the bed.

The present invention is concerned with furniture to be used as achair-bed or the like.

The chair-bed can be used as a chair or as a chaise, cot or bed orcombined to provide a love-seat or sofa readily changeable into aqueenor king-size bed. Each chair-bed has a chair frame, cushions and aninner frame connected to and foldable into or extended from said chairframe with the cushions being either used as chair seat and back ormattress. Special legs are provided to be substituted on a plurality ofsaid chair-beds whereby the love-seat queen-size bed or sofa king-sizebed combination can be provided as desired.

The object of the present invention is to provide furniture having theappearance of a regular chair, love-seat or sofa which can be quicklyand easily transformed into a chaise, cot or bed and which furniture hasall of the comfort elements of either the chair, chaise or bed, theouter chair frame can be of a variety of styles or types and there are aminimum of moving parts to the foldable inner frame providing for a longlife therefor.

Further objects of the invention will be in part obvious and in partpointed out in the following description of the accompanying drawings,in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the present chair-bed with extendedpositions of the inner frame shown in dotted lines;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a portion of the chair-bed without cushionsand with the inner frame fully extended;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the chair-bed with the inner frame fullyfolded;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the inner frame inits extended position and connected to a chair leg which is partlybroken away;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 66 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a front view of a love seat provided by combining a pair ofsaid chair-beds; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged exploded view of the front and rear legs for usewith said love seat.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings whereinlike and corresponding parts are indicated by like reference characters,1 refers to a front leg while 2 indicates a second front leg, and 3 oneof a pair of rear legs of which only one is shown. A back upright 4 isintegral with and extends upright fro-m leg 3 while a similar upright 4ais integral With and extends upright from the other rear leg (notshown).

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A bar 5 extends between and connects front legs 1 and 2, bar 6 similarlyextends between and connects the rear legs while a plurality of bars 7extends between and connects bars 5 and 6 providing a cushion shelf.

A board 8 extends between and connects said rear legs at about theirjunction with uprights 4 and 4a while bars 9 and 10 extend between andconnect said uprights. A back 11 of sheet material such as canvas isconnected to and extends between bars 9 and 10.

A side board 12 extends between and connects the upper end of leg 2 andboard 8, while a similar side board (not shown) connects the upper endof leg 1 and board 8.

A bar 13 connects legs 1 and 2 above bar 5, while a bar 14 connects saidrear legs and is on a level with bar 13. A bar 15 connects bars 13 and14 alongside of leg 1 and its rear leg while a second bar 16 connectsbars 13 and 14 alongside legs 2 and 3. Bars 13 to 16 thus provide aframe fixed to said legs. A bar 17 connects bars 5 and 6 alongside leg 1and its rear leg so that bars 5, 6, 7, and 17 provide a shelf for acushion, for example.

Legs 1 and 2 each have a longitudinal corner recess 18 such as shown forleg 1 in FIGS. 5 and 6. The bottoms of the recesses have a depression19.

A hinge 20 pivotably connects bar 13 to a bar 21 alongside bar 13. A bar22 is attached to and extends normal from one end of bar 21. A pin 23extends through a U-shaped bracket 24 attached to lateral bar 25attached to and extending normal from bar 22. A hinge 26 pivotablyconnects bar 25 to bar 27 alongside bar 25, while plate 28 is fixedlyattached to the top of bar 27 and capable of extending over bar 25 asshown in FIG. 5.

A further bar 29 is attached and extends normal to bar 27. A bracket 30is attached to the inner side of bar 29 and has a longitudinal slot 30.A button 31 slides in slot 30' and is attached to link 32 which link ispivotally connected by pin 33 to leg 34. Said leg 34 is also pivotallyattached to pin 23. A second leg 35 is attached to bar 29 and extendsperpendicular thereto. A board 36 is attached to leg 35. Cross bars 37and 38 extend between and are attached to legs 34 and 34a and 35 and 35arespectively.

A bar 22a is connected at one end to hinge 20 at the other end of bar 13next to leg 2 and extends normal to bar 13. Bar 22a has its other endconnected to hinge 26 and is thus pivotally connected to one end of bar29a. Leg 35a is attached to the other end of bar 29a, bars 38a and 38and board 36.

A U-shaped bracket 24a is attached to bar 25 and has a pin 23a.extending therethrough with leg 34a pivotally attached to pin 23a. Alsolink 32a is pivotally attached at one end to leg 34a and has a button31a at its other end slideably mounted in a slot in bracket 30a attachedto the inner side of bar 2911.

Slots 2% are provided along the length of bar 2911 and similar slots areprovided along the length of bars 15, 16, 22, 22a, and 29. Straps 46extend through the slots of and between the bars 15 and 16, 22 and 22aand 29 and 29a forming a mattress support when extended or the straps ofbars 29 and 29a a seat support when folded as in FIG. 4.

Supports 39 and 41 are attached to arm rests 40 and.

As can be realized from the foregoing bars 13, 14,

15, and 16 form a fixed frame mounted on the chair frame, bars 21, 22,22a and 25 form' a second frame pivotally connected along bar 21 to bar13 by hinge 20, bars 27, 29, 29a and 35a form a third frame pivotallyconnected along bar 27 to bar 25 by hinge 26, legs 34 and 34a arepivotally connected to bar 25 and thus the second frame by pins 23 and23a respectively, links 32 and 32a are pivotally connected to legs 34and 34a respectively, and both pivotally and slideably connected to rods29 and 29a respectively by brackets 30 and 30a respectively and thus thethird frame to which is fixedly attached legs 35 and 35a by bar 38a.

In the use of the present chair-bed as a chair, the second frame ispivoted on hinge 20 onto the first fixed frame. The third frame ispivoted on hinge 26 onto the second frame whereupon links 32 and 32apivot legs 34 and 34a to a position alongside bars 22 and 22a respectively of the second frame. Legs 35 and 35a mate with recesses 18 of thelegs 1 and 2 respectively as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Cushion 43 is thenpositioned on straps 46 of the third frame providing a seat cushion 44-on seat cushion 43 and against back 11 providing a back and cushion 45on the shelf provided by bars 5, 6, 7 and 17. Board 36 is thus a frontfor the seat.

To use the chair-bed as a cot, chaise or single bed, board 36 is pulledfrom the chair frame whereupon the third frame pulls the second frame byhinge 26 to the position of FIG. and links 32 and 32a, move legs 34 and34a respectively to an upright position whereupon the legs of the chairframe, legs 34 and 34a and 35 and 35a support the frames upon which thecushions can be laid as a mattress. Reversing the procedure will storethe frames as in FIG. 4.

A pair of said chair-beds can be combined to provide a love seatchangeable into a double bed or a plurality of three or more of saidchair-bed combined to provide sofas of various lengths changeable intoqueenand king-size beds. For this purpose a front leg 47 is substitutedfor adjacent legs 1 and 2 of a pair of chair-beds, for example, and aleg 54 substituted for the adjacent rear legs of the chair-beds.

Leg 47 has a pair of front recesses 48 and 49' provided by a centerlongitudinal L-shaped plate 50. Angle irons 51 and 52 are mounted on topof leg 47 as is base 53 of plate 50. Leg 54 has the base 55 of aU-shaped bracket fixedly mounted on the top thereof with bracket sides56 and 58 separated by upright plate 57 providing a pair of channels.

Bar of the left-hand chair-bed of FIG. 7 is placed the channel betweenangle iron 51 and plate base 53 and in the channel between side 56 andplate 57 while the bar 16 of the right-hand chair-bed of FIG. 7 isplaced in the channel between plate base 53 and angle iron 52 and alsobetween upright plate 57 and bracket side 58. Screws, rivets or the likecan be driven through holes 59 for retaining bars 15 and 16 and thusattaching the chair frames together. Legs 35 and 35a fit into recesses48 and 49 respectively when the frames are in their folded position.

As many of said chair frames can be similarly attached side by side asdesired omitting the chair arms therebetween to provide various types offurniture.

Legs 34, 34a, 35 and 35a are of the same length and of a length forsupporting bars 22, 22a, and 29, 29a, in a horizontal plane with bars95, 16, when the chair is extended as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, and saidlegs are on a supporting surface providing a fiat bed.

When the chair has bars 22, 22a, and 29, 29c, folded on top of bars 15,16 legs 35, 35a, are positioned in recesses 18 of legs 1 and 2, as shownin FIG. 3 and the bottoms 19 of said recesses 18 are spaced up from thelower end of legs 1 and 2, a desired distance so that legs 35, 35aextend above legs 1 and 2, and also above hinge 26 with the result thatbars 29, 29a slant downwardly from the front to the back of the chair toassure a comfortable chair seat.

In place of straps 46, expanded metal sheets or other supports could beattached to each of said three frames by conventional means such asscrews, spot welding or the like.

We claim:

1. A convertible chair-bed comprising a plurality of legs, a four-sidedframe having an opposite pair of sides thereof connected to andextending between and laterally of said legs, a second four-sided framepivotally attached at one side to a third side of said first four-sidedframe, a back fixedly attached to the fourth side of said firstfoursided frame and extending laterally thereof, a third foursided framepivotally connected at one side to a side of said second frame oppositethe first-mentioned side of said second frame, a plurality of legsfixedly attached to a side of said third frame opposite the firstmentioned side of said third frame and extending laterally thereof, aplurality of legs pivotally connected to said secondmentioned side ofsaid second frame, links pivotally connected to said second plurality oflegs and slideably and pivotally connected to the remaining sides ofsaid third frame and a plurality of cushions for providing'a seat andback or mattress on said frames and back.

2. A convertible chair-bed as claimed in claim 1 wherein a hingeconnects said first and second frame providing the pivoting attachmentof said frames and said hinge is mounted on the side of said frame whichis uppermost when said chair-bed is positioned for use as a bed and ahinge connects said second and third frames providing the pivotedattachment therebetween and said second hinge is mounted on thelowermost side of said frames when said chair-bed is positioned for useas a bed.

3. A convertible chair-bed as claimed in claim 1 wherein some of saidfirst mentioned legs have recesses for receiving said last mentionedlegs when said frames are folded together.

4. A convertible chair-bed as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of saidframes is formed of four bars each attached at an end to a second ofsaid bars, one bar of said second frame forming said second sidethereof, brackets mounted on said one bar pivotally supporting saidthird plurality of legs and brackets with slots mounted on said thirdframe having said links extending to and in said slots.

5. A convertible sofa-bed comprising a plurality of sets of frames witheach set having three frames with a pair of end frames and anintermediate frame of the set being pivotally connected at oppositesides to the end frames of the set, a plurality of legs, one end frameof each of said sets of frames being fixedly mounted on some of saidlegs and adjoining end frames on said legs being connected together, asecond plurality of legs fixedly connected to the other end frames ofsaid sets of frames, a third plurality of legs pivotally connected tosaid intermediate frames and links pivotally connected to said thirdplurality of legs and slideably and pivotally connected to said otherend frames and cushions for providing backs and seats or mattresses.

Y 6. A convertible sofa-bed as claimed in claim 5 wherein said firstplurality of legs have recesses for receiving said second plurality oflegs when said frames of said frame sets are folded onto one another,the legs of said first plurality of legs between adjoining end framessupported by said legs each having a pair of channels on the top thereofwith each channel having a portion of an end frame mounted therein andmeans connecting said end frames to said legs.

7. A convertible sofa-bed as claimed in claim 6 wherein each of saidlegs between adjoining end frames at the front of the sofa-bed has arecessed front, a plate extending longitudinally of the recess providingsaid recesses for receiving said second plurality of legs, a pair ofangle irons on the top of the leg and said plate extends between saidangle irons providing said pair of channels on the top of the leg.

8. A convertible sofa-bed as claimed in claim 6 wherein each of saidlegs between adjoining end frames at the back of the sofa-bed has aU-shaped bracket on the top thereof with a central plate thereonproviding the pair of channels on said legs.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 324,661 8/1885 Crandall 297-109 X3,085,257 4/1963 Laemmle 529 6 FOREIGN PATENTS 895,947 5/ 1962 GreatBritain.

CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner 5 US. Cl. X.R. 297-105

